Day 10 - Montreal y’all!

miles today: 62 total miles: 596
km today: 83 total km: 960

We woke up in the one-star motel comfortable, dry, and rested. I slept like a rock! There was still the picnic table on the water so we made breakfast and headed out on the late side. In repacking everything after the indoor yardsale to dry out, we found a fresh tube. Nonetheless, we were committed to buying tubes and patches at the first opportunity which would be after about 30 km.

We stopped at the grocery store for some solid grocery bags and a snack before hitting the road - more about the grocery bags tomorrow. We were about to get on the road and saw groups of bikers cruising along. It being Friday, it didn’t make sense to be a local group ride, so we were curious. We soon caught up to one of the groups and, reading their rainbow colored jerseys and talking to a couple folks, it turns out they are on the Friends for Life bike rally and the 240 riders raised $1.8 Million Canadian for helping people living with HIV. They were a really kind and energetic group being pretty stoked to be arriving in Montreal after leaving Toronto 6 days earlier. We ended up riding with who we called the “pride riders” off and on most of the day and decided we liked their (clearly marked!) route better than some of my choices. We met up at a gelato stand and were able to learn more about the group (25th year!) and their mission (not medical research, but helping people with the side effects and associated challenges of living with being HIV positive, including addiction, stigma, and povery, among many others). One of the guys we talked to was the co-chair last year. They all grouped up for a mass finish with police escort. It was fun chatting with them (we got receptions ranging from “that sounds so cool” to “oh hells no!” when we told them what we were up to).

We found a little bike shop and Chandra got tubes! What a relief! Then across the bridge onto the island of Montreal.


The bike paths on Montreal were incredibly beautiful, well-designed, and we got to the heart of downtown without ever dealing with traffic, potholes, or any of the other common annouyances of urban riding.

We stopped for a quick lunch in a lovely little park on the far west of the island and just instantly felt comfortable in Montreal.

Once there, we were hoping to sort out some logistics (mainly seam sealer and another tarp - more on that tomorrow). We found an REI-looking store called La Cordée. It was a total bust! They had some gear, but no seam sealer. No tarp. Luckily the place wasn’t far from our AirBnB for the night. We couldn’t check in until 4pm so we found a cafe around the corner and played some cribbage to pass the time. The AirBnB was perfect - we were able to bring the bike and everything, get cleaned up, do laundry, and then meet Chris (Casey’s cousin) and his partner Miriam for a fantastic dinner a couple blocks from the apartment. Chris owns a bike shop, Miriam is in real estate, and we had great food and wine and talked all about biking and travel plans. Super fun!

When we got back to the room, Chandra found the sofa which eclipsed her desire to go out to a punkrock show, but I was pretty stoked (and the venue was also less than 100 m from the apartment) so I went out. Here are a couple clips from Union Thugs first, and The Dreadnoughts second (singing about poutine :) ). I’ve liked the Dreadnoughts for a long time and had so much fun playing in Montreal with Searchlights that I couldn’t pass up a lively show! Luckily, it was not super late so still got to crash by midnight.

BIKE BETA: The bike paths are insane - so great - in Montreal! Really impressed with the bike infrastructure. Plus, you can’t go more than a few blocks without seeing a bike shop!